Just a Moment
by LisaQT3
Summary: In just a moment your whole life can change. One night, for one family, one moment makes all the difference.


Disclaimer: Some characters and most places belong to JK Rowling. No profit is being made from this story.  
  
A/N: When I read that Remus was a half-blood, this story popped in my head and I had to write it. Now I wonder if that might have been ill advised. It's gruesome and reads a lot like an episode of ER. Watch out for the language.  
  
***  
  
He'd been alone for just a moment. It couldn't have been more than a minute. And the gate was locked. She was sure the gate had been locked. But...She wasn't sure if it had been charmed. That wasn't something she knew how to check.  
  
***  
  
The late August sun was slowly setting, bathing the garden in red and orange light. Sarah Lupin was seated next to the marigolds with her son, Remus, in her lap. They were sitting in silence, enjoying the last few minutes of late summer sun. After a full day of digging in the garden, both mother and son were tired but content.  
"Look, Mummy," Remus said, pointing towards the darkening sky, "the moon." Sarah followed her son's gaze and saw the full round moon, already high in the sky. "It's not nighttime," Remus commented, his brow furrowing.  
Sarah laughed a little. "Not yet. But the moon isn't just out at night."  
"It's not?" the small child wondered.  
"Sometimes the moon is out all day and we can't see it."  
"Why?"  
"Because the sun is too bright."  
"Oh." The questions ceased for a moment. "Mummy, I'm thirsty."  
"Where's your cup?" Sarah asked. Remus got up and walked to the other side of the garden. After a minute of searching, he ran back with his hands wrapped tightly around a small sippy cup. It was empty.  
"Can I have more juice?" Remus asked, handing the cup to his mother.  
"You may," she said smiling. Standing up, she held out a hand to her son. "Are you ready to come inside?"  
Remus put on a pout. "You said I could watch the whole thing."  
"Oh, you're right. I did," Sarah said, looking towards the horizon where the sun was still inching it's way below the horizon. "Very well, come in when the sun has set and get your juice." Her son smiled happily and plopped down next to the flowerbed once again. Sarah watched him sit there for a moment, then turned and went in the house.  
  
***  
  
She'd always hated the woods behind their house. The thought of living next to it had disturbed her greatly when she'd first married John. She'd tried to convince him to sell the house after just a few months there. Wouldn't it be better to live closer to London, closer to work? He'd laughed at her. Apparently daily commutes were of no concern to wizards.  
When Sarah had expressed misgivings about the woods, John had confessed that the woods were...well, dark was such a harsh word, it'd do better to call them wild. He wouldn't say what was in them that made them so wild, but Sarah had a feeling she wouldn't have believed him even if he had told her. She believed so few of the things he told her.  
Yet there was no denying the sense of foreboding she had felt whenever she looked out into the thickly packed forest. Sarah had always known something awful would come out of those woods. She hated being right.  
  
***  
  
The scream was audible from the kitchen. Although the sound was more animal than human, Sarah felt her blood freeze up the instant she heard it. There was no doubt in her mind – her heart told her all too clearly – that scream came from her little boy.  
She wasn't quite sure how she made it past the fence surrounding their property, but she was very nearly to the woods when Remus came running out, sobbing and bloodied. "Remus!" she cried in horror when she saw the wounds on his shoulder and arm. The small boy turned to see her and the terror on his face made Sarah feel sick. She ran over to him and picked him up. "My God, what happened?" she wondered aloud, as she examined the torn flesh. The little boy tried to answer, but he looked very close to passing out. "Shh," she said, trying to comfort him, as she made her way quickly back into the house.  
Somewhere along the way, Remus passed out completely and Sarah started to panic. She didn't have any medical training, but she did know that her son was losing blood fast. Upon entering the house, Sarah immediately made her way to the study. She set Remus on a sofa and grabbed the blanket to wrap around him. She hated to leave him – he looked unnaturally gray and dead – but she had to send word to her husband.  
"Tunin! Tunin, damn it! Where are you?" she called helplessly as she scribed a note to John from the desk. The note was tear-stained and bloody around the edges, but legible enough for John to find her. "Damn bloody owl! Tunin!!"  
The owl finally soared in at this last cry, looking extremely put out. Grabbing his foot roughly, Sarah shakily tied the note to it. "Get this to John, now," she pleaded with him. The owl seemed to straighten up a bit and looked her dead in eye almost as if he understood the gravity of the situation.  
Not bothering to watch the owl leave, Sarah whirled around to the sofa again. Remus was sweating and shivering. His eyes were half-opened and he started whispering something. Sarah couldn't tell if he was conscious again or just hallucinating. She didn't have time to figure it out.  
She ran over to the fireplace and cursed. The hot summer days meant the fire was rarely kept lit, and the fireplace yawned darkly at her now. If only she could use that damn spell...It didn't matter now. There was a matchbox and a few pieces of kindling nearby. Sarah threw the wood in and struck a match. She tried to catch one of the pieces of wood on fire, but that didn't work. She jumped up to the desk and grabbed several sheets of parchment. Catching these on fire, she threw them into the fireplace and hoped they'd keep burning long enough.  
She reached up and grabbed some dust from the little pot on the mantle. Tossing it into the fireplace, she held her breath until the burning parchment erupted in green flames. A sigh of relief escaped her, but she didn't have much time. Running over to the sofa, she scooped up Remus and stepped directly into the fire. "St. Mungo's" she cried. The last thing she heard before the whooshing sound of the Floo Network was Remus' tiny voice muttering about the "bad dog."  
  
***  
  
When Remus was two, he had fallen down the stairs. Sarah was still quite unsure of how it happened. Remus had been in his crib, the door to his room had been shut and there had been a gate across the stairs. Nevertheless, he'd managed to get past all three and tumbled down the stairs.  
John hadn't been home and so Sarah did the only natural thing: She drove Remus to the nearest doctor. The toddler had broken a few bones in his wrist and had a large bump on his head, but the doctor had pronounced him to be in tolerably good health considering such a fall. After putting the arm in a sling and prescribing something for the pain, the doctor sent Remus and Sarah home.  
When John got home from work, Sarah related the story to him. John frowned deeply. "You shouldn't have taken him there."  
"What was I supposed to do?" Sarah said angrily. "He fell down the stairs!"  
"I know, but these Muggle doctors...they don't know what they're doing." He paused, and then started for the stairs.  
"Remus is perfectly fine now," Sarah said defensively as she followed him. She hated it when John talked about Muggles like that. "Don't wake him up."  
But John was already in Remus' room. He picked up the sleeping child and started to head downstairs. "I want you to see where to take him if something like this should happen again."  
  
***  
  
Sarah nearly fell out of the grate at St. Mungo's, but she caught herself and managed to hold onto Remus as well. Straightening up, she tried to get her bearings. The area she'd come out in was not the normal admittance area. It was a much smaller room. One wall was lined with fireplaces and the opposite wall housed a reception desk. A sign above it exhibited the St. Mungo's insignia and beneath that were the words, "Emergency Center."  
Starting to shake slightly, Sarah took a few steps towards the desk. The sole nurse behind it looked up and her face drained of color. "Jumping dragons! What happened?" she asked as she stepped around the desk and ran up to meet Sarah.  
"I don't know," Sarah replied as the woman took Remus from her arms. "He wandered into the woods. I think he was attacked by a dog."  
The nurse had her wand out and was casting a spell on Remus, but her head rose sharply at Sarah's last words. "A dog? Are you sure? Did you see it?"  
"Well, no. But he keeps talking about a dog. What else could have done it?"  
The nurse didn't reply and conjured up a stretcher. As she placed Remus on it, a side door opened and several green clad wizards stepped out.  
  
"What happened, Rita?" one of them asked.  
The nurse took a deep breath. "The mother says he was attacked by a dog but..."  
"But what?"  
"Well...what phase is the moon in?" the nurse asked biting her lip.  
"It's a full moon," Sarah replied. It seemed like days had passed since she'd sat with Remus observing it.  
The first doctor sucked in his breath. "Lycanthropy?" the other wizard queried his colleague.  
"Most likely."  
"What? What does that mean?" Sarah asked, feeling her voice become slightly hysterical.  
"We better get him to the first floor," the first doctor said, ignoring her question. They started to wheel Remus towards the door. "I'm sorry ma'am," he said when Sarah tried to follow, "but you're going to have to stay here and give Rita your information. But don't worry your son's going to be – he's going to live."  
Sarah watched helplessly as they wheeled Remus away, feeling her tears coming even faster now.  
"Ma'am?" Rita said nervously. "Can I get your name?"  
"Sarah Lupin," she answered mechanically, still staring at the door that her child had disappeared behind.  
"And his name?"  
"Remus."  
"And how old is he?"  
"Five."  
The woman tutted and muttered something. Then in a louder voice she asked, "Is this his first time here?"  
"No. He broke his wrist when he was two. My husband said I should have come here first then. So I came here first now."  
The nurse looked up at that and studied Sarah. "Are you a Muggle?" Sarah turned to face her and nodded slowly. "And your husband, he's a wizard?" She nodded again. "Is he going to be coming here?" Another nod. The nurse seemed a little relieved "Perhaps you should go the reception area and wait for him," Rita suggested. "I can just get the rest of the information from Remus' previous file. Oh, except...Can you give me your address? It's very important that we find out where you live."  
"Why?" Sarah asked.  
"Oh it's just how our filing system works. Now, what is it?"  
  
***  
  
When John had told Sarah he was a wizard, she thought it was a joke. She'd laughed and asked him if he knew any munchkins. But John didn't laugh in return. He launched into a speech about how he wanted to tell her for months but there was never an opportunity. But now he had to tell her because he'd gone and fallen in love with her and knew she had to be a part of his whole life.  
Her first reaction had been to run. She almost stormed out that night, but utter shock kept her there, listening to his explanations, hearing more about this secret world he belonged to. As the shock wore off, anger settled in. For several weeks, she stopped returning his messages. Then she moved onto a stage of denial, and Sarah was quite certain she got stuck there. She started to believe that life with a wizard would be quite normal, quite acceptable. Magic would probably not even affect her life more than it did already. She married John with this attitude. She raised Remus with this attitude. She lived everyday with this attitude.  
Until she could finally deny it no longer.  
  
***  
  
John was arguing with one of the nurses at the reception desk when Rita took Sarah to the admittance area. "My wife sent me this note saying she was taking our son here. So look it up again. They're here," he said angrily, waving the hastily written note under the nurse's nose.  
"John-" Sarah managed to say before her throat choked off all sound.  
He turned to her and his eyes swept up and down her, growing wide with fear. She glanced down at her clothes, realizing for the first time that her shirt was spotted with blood. "Oh God, what happened?"  
The tears started falling again and Sarah started babbling. "I only left him for a minute. The gate was locked; I don't know how he could have gotten out. And he knows not to go into the woods. He should have been fine. It was only a minute," she trailed off with a sob.  
"Excuse me, Mr. Lupin," Rita cut in. "I was the first to examine your son. He suffered from injuries that appeared to be the result of some kind of animal attack. The wounds were fairly deep and the boy lost a lot of blood, but our Healers should have no problems fixing the injuries."  
"What attacked him?"  
Sarah saw hesitation in the woman's eyes. "It hasn't been determined yet," she replied slowly. "Your wife says it was a dog but she did not see the animal." John looked like he was about to ask the nurse more questions but she cut him off. "I'm very sorry but I do have to get back to the E.C. The Healers will be out to give you more definite information as soon as something is known."  
As Rita left, Sarah hazarded a glance at John. Until now she hadn't had time to dwell on her guilt in the situation, but she knew the fault was hers. She should have been out in there with Remus. She feared the accusations she would see in his eyes. But there were none, and John had almost immediately wrapped her in a hug. She collapsed into him, grateful for his strength. In his embrace, she could almost forget her fear. Almost.  
"John, I think there's something more going on than she was telling us."  
Pulling out of the embrace, John looked directly into her face. "I'm sure of it."  
Sarah took a deep breath. "When I first brought him in, the nurse asked what phase the moon was in. Does that mean anything to you?"  
"What phase is the moon in?" John asked. Sarah could tell there was a note of panic in his voice.  
"It's full," Sarah replied, somehow knowing that was the awful answer he was dreading.  
"Shit," John swore. He pounded his fist on the nearby wall.  
"Oh God, John, what is it? You know what's wrong. Tell me."  
"Remus was attacked by a goddamn werewolf."  
"Werewolves don't exist," Sarah said automatically. She'd said something like that to him a hundred times before. Anytime he mentioned something mythological, fairies, goblins, unicorns, she'd always had the same reaction of disbelief. But never before had it been so urgent that the creatures not really exist. Never before had she cared.  
"Damn it, Sarah! Yes they do. They exist and tonight one attacked our son."  
"But he's going to be fine," she reasoned. "The doctors said he would survive."  
"He'll survive the attack, all right," John said angrily. He turned away from her. "But he's not fine."  
"Why?" Sarah asked stepping around him to look into his face. "What's wrong? Why does it matter that it was a werewolf?"  
"Don't you know anything about werewolves at all?" John retorted coldly.  
"Well, what the hell do you think, John? I didn't even know they existed until a few minutes ago. So enlighten me."  
John sighed, and Sarah could feel his manner soften. "Most everything you've seen in movies or read in books about them is true. A werewolf is a man 29 days out of the month. But on a full moon he becomes a wolf. Unless properly restrained, he'll attack anyone he comes in contact with. Any person bitten by the wolf will become a werewolf himself." He paused, giving her time to let that sink in. She started to shake her head. "Oh no. No no no." "Sarah, you can't escape it," John said, pain evident in his voice.  
"We don't know he was bitten. He might have just been scratched," she insisted.  
"We have to prepare ourselves for the truth," John said, seeming to ignore her pleas. "Remus is a werewolf."  
  
***  
  
Upon Remus' birth, John's grandmother had come to visit them for the first time since the marriage. At the wedding, Grandmother Lupin had not given Sarah a very good impression. The young bride had found her to be decidedly creepy and most certainly unbalanced. Having just given birth a few days before and with the concerns of a new infant, Sarah was less than pleased when the batty old woman had decided to visit them. John insisted it couldn't be helped. After all, they had named the child after the woman's husband. It was only natural that she would want to see dear old Remus' namesake.  
She'd demanded to see the child the minute she got in the house. Remus was handed over and Sarah watched in alarm as the old woman took out some sort of talisman and began muttering over the baby. She looked anxiously to John. "Don't worry," he'd assured her, taking her hand and squeezing gently. "She's doing some harmless divination spells."  
"Harmless?" Sarah asked timidly, as Remus began to fuss.  
"It's fine, she does it for every new child in the family. It's a bit like a blessing. She used to be quite famous for the skill in her youth."  
"Used to be?" Sarah wondered.  
Suddenly, the old woman stopped chanting and her eyes opened slowly. She fixed them on the couple nearby, continuing to ignore Remus' cries. "This child's way is dark. He will not rule his own path and the presence of the orb overshadows his life." She motioned for the mother to take the child back. Then she stood up slowly and made to leave. But first she paused and looked especially at John. "It's such a pity you named him Remus." Then she left.  
After a few moments, neither spoke. Then John forced a chuckle. "Like I said, she used to be famous for her skills. But she's been rather off her game lately."  
"What did she mean by all that?" Sarah asked, worry plainly evident in her voice. "The dark way and the orb and everything?"  
"I haven't the faintest idea," John said laughing lightly. Sarah still looked at him with serious concern and he turned grave. "She hasn't been the same since Grandfather died. I think she's gone a bit crazy." He leaned down and kissed Sarah's forehead. "I wouldn't give any thought to what she said."  
And she hadn't. Not in a long time. But the words came back to her now. Those words would haunt her for the rest of her life.  
  
***  
  
Later that evening, John and Sarah were finally admitted upstairs to see their son. He was sleeping peacefully, his arm wrapped up neatly and his natural color back in his cheeks. Sarah lovingly brushed his fringe aside and placed a kiss on his forehead. Her heart sang just to see him looking well again.  
But the doctors were not content to let her joy last. "Mr. and Mrs. Lupin, I'm afraid there are some complications with your son's condition," the first doctor said. "He suffered from some animal bites and the evidence strongly suggested they come from a dog or wolf. Since it is a full moon, it's standard procedure to perform a few test spells to check for lycanthropy. I'm afraid these tests came up positive."  
"What does that mean?" Sarah asked, even though she knew what it meant. She just didn't want to believe it.  
The doctor looked at her with great pity. "Your son is a werewolf."  
The only thing she could do was nod.  
"If you need a few minutes," the doctor said slowly, "I completely understand. But at some point I will need to go over your options with you- "  
The doctor was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a man in dark blue robes. He obviously didn't work for the hospital. "Langford Brookes, from the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures," he said briskly, approaching the small group gather by Remus' bedside. "Are these the parents?" he asked the doctor. The doctor nodded.  
"Who the hell called the DMC in?" John cried.  
"It's standard procedure," Langford said pompously. "Any possible werewolf attacks are brought to us and we investigate it. And really you should be thanking us. I'm here to tell you we've captured the werewolf that attacked your son. She's being put down as soon as possible."  
"Good," Sarah said firmly. She felt an odd sense of justice at his words.  
"That was in no way an official sanction from us," John said just as firmly, waving off Sarah's comment.  
"Like hell it wasn't," Sarah replied, throwing her hands on her hips. "I want it killed."  
"Shit, Sarah, you don't even know what you're talking about," John said, turning to her with dark eyes.  
"I know that I want the thing that hurt Remus dead."  
"It's not a thing! It's a person." Sarah shook her head in disbelief. A person had not done that. John stepped closer to her and grabbed her arm. He lowered his voice so only she could hear. "Look, I hate what happened too. And I'd love to see the guilty party punished. But we can't condone this." His voice got lower still. "They're going to tell us to do the same thing to Remus."  
"What?!" Sarah exploded.  
"Our options?" John snorted. "Number one is going to be putting Remus down."  
"But...but...he's just a child!" Sarah sputtered, glancing back at the sleeping child. He suddenly looked very small and vulnerable. "He's not some rabid dog; he's a person."  
"And whoever attacked him can probably make a similar claim," John said calmly.  
"But Remus didn't hurt anyone. It's different," Sarah insisted.  
"Is it the different next full moon if Remus is the one biting someone?" Sarah had no reply for that. "Whether you like it or not, we have to remember that the wolf that attacked Remus is not the person they will have locked up in the morning. I, for one, don't want to be responsible for that person's death."  
Sarah wasn't sure she could share John's sentiments. There was still a big difference in her mind. But she trusted his judgment. He knew this world better than she did anyway. She nodded slowly.  
"Okay, good." John turned back to Langford. "You go back to the DMC and tell them we're not going to be pressing any charges."  
"It's not up to you," Langford condescended. "Our department determines when a creature is deemed dangerous enough for extermination. Your wishes don't matter."  
"You bastard," John said viciously.  
Langford rolled his eyes. "Sadly, I feel this will not be the end of our acquaintance. If you decide to keep the werewolf, I'll be getting in touch with you in a few days for the proper housing procedures and all the regulations regarding the keeping of such a creature." With a pretentious nod, Langford felt the ward.  
The doctor seemed on the verge of saying something but John interrupted. "Save your damned speeches. We're..." he paused, and Sarah stepped up next to him, sliding her hand into his. "We're not giving up on our son."  
  
The End  
  
A/N 2: First of all, I don't know all the ins and outs of werewolves. However, based on PoA, I've been led to believe that one turns into a werewolf when the moon is visible at night. So in this story, the werewolf that bites Remus would have just been changing when Remus came upon her. This is probably why Remus was able to get away, since I believe transforming probably weakens the wolf temporarily. Secondly, I don't know if Muggles can travel by Floo. But there seems to be no magic required of a person traveling by Floo so I don't see why a Muggle couldn't do it. 


End file.
